48 MATERIA MEDICA. 



spongy texture ; odour feeble ; taste very bitter and sweetish ; 

 colour of powder yellowish. Water and alcohol extract its virtues, 

 which depend chiefly on a peculiar crystalline bitter principle called 

 gentianin. 



Prop. — A pure simple bitter, much employed in dyspepsia, par- 

 ticularly in the form of infusion, made with senna, or rhubarb, and 

 ginger. Gentian is slightly stimulant. 



Dose of powder, 10 to 40 grains ; of the infusion, made with 

 3j to Oj of cold or hot water, f ^ij. The compound infusion con- 

 tains orange peel and coriander seeds. The tincture contains 

 cardamom seed and orange peel, and is one of the best of the bitter 

 tinctures ; dose f 3j to f 3ij. The extract is used in the dose of 5 

 to 30 grains. 



Gold Thread. — (Coptis, U. S.) 



Root of the Coptis trifolia, a small, evergreen, herbaceous plant, 

 growing in New England. The plant much resembles a strawberry 

 vine, and has a thin interlaced root of a golden-yellow colour. In 

 its general properties it strongly resembles quassia ; its virtue de- 

 pends on a bitter extractive. Best given in infusion, made with 

 3ss. to Oj of water ; used sometimes as a wash in aphthous sore 

 mouths. 



The Sabbatia angularis is another excellent indigenous tonic, 

 having properties resembling those of the above-named simple bitters. 

 It is generally used in the form of infusion. 



XL — BITTERS OF MODIFIED PROPERTIES. 



Peruvian Bark. — (Cinchona, U. S.) 



The genus Cinchona of the former botanists, comprised as many 

 as fifty distinct species; Professor Lindley mentions twenty-six 

 species, most of which are well known. Of these the most im- 

 portant, as affording most of the bark of commerce, are the C. Con- 

 daminea, C. micrantha, C. cordifolia^ C. magnifolia^ C. lancifolia, 

 and C. oblongifolia. The genuine cinchona trees are exclusively 

 found within the geographical limits of La Paz, about 20° of south 

 latitude, and Santa Martha, about 11° of north latitude. They in- 

 habit the mountainous regions of the Andes, usually about 6000 

 feet above the level of the sea. The name citicliona was given to 

 the genus from the circumstance that the Countess of Cinchon was 

 cured of intermittent fever by the use of the bark. It was also 

 named Jesuits'' bark and Jesuits'' powder, from its having been used 

 by the Jesuits as a secret remedy. All the different species of the 

 cinchona have their own peculiar botanical characteristics: they re- 

 semble each other, however, in their general features : thus they all 

 have opposite leaves, set upon short petioles ; the flowers are at the 



